Enjoy Free Comic Book Day at Mentor Library

If your kids love reading, writing or drawing comics, then they'll probably love our Comics Club.

Free Comic Book Day is this Saturday! Kids can come to Mentor Library's Main Branch and get new, free issues from all the top comics publishers—Marvel, DC, Boom, Bongo, Image and more. (The comics have been donated by our friends at Comics & Friends!)

You may be confused and wondering, "Aren't all of the comics at Mentor Library free?" And, yes, we have thousands of comics and graphic novels that you can check out without cost.

But Free Comic Book day is a special, once-a-year event where kids can read new stories from all kinds writers and artists—not just superheroes either. It's a fun way to expand your horizons without having to spend any cash.

So drop by and pick up some comics while the supply lasts. (And, once more, because we can't say it enough, thanks to Comics & Friends!)

Our Comics Club doesn't just read and talk about comics. We write and draw our own sequential art, as well.

If your kid loves comics, then they'll probably love our Comics Club too.

Our Comics Club is for any 8- through 12-year-old who likes to read, talk about, or draw sequential art. (Not just superheroes either. We love everything from Amelia Rules to Batman to Bone.)

Our Comic Club meets from 7 to 8 p.m. on the first Tuesday of every month at our Main Branch. Our next meeting is May 5.

At a typical meeting, the kids talk about a special theme. Then we introduce the kids to graphic novels and comics that can be found in the library’s collection.

We close out each meeting with free time for the kids to draw or read.

To register a child for the Comics Club, call the library at (440) 255-8811 ext. 221.

Throwback Thursday: Superheroes!

Free Comic Book Day is this Saturday. (Between that and Star Ways Day on May 4, this is pretty much the best weekend ever.)

You can and should celebrate Free Comic Book Day with our friends at Comics & Friends; but, with all due respect to them and every other beautiful comic book shop across this wonderful country, every day is Free Comic Book Day at Mentor Library.

That's why we're dedicating this Throwback Thursday to the superheroes! So come with us and see some of the cool superheroics you can check out from the library.

1. We could dedicate an entire Throwback Thursday just to Batman. We have movies where he's played by Michael Keaton, Christian Bale, Val Kilmer, Adam West, Kevin Conroy and (ugh) George Clooney. We even have one where he's made from Lego and another where he teams up with Scooby-Doo.

As per TV shows, you can borrow Batman: The Animated Series, Beware the Batman, The Batman, Batman: The Brave & The Bold, Batman Beyond and The New Adventures of Batman.

We also have plenty of videos starring Batman's team, the Justice League—everything from Challenge of the Superfriends to Justice League to Justice League Unlimited to the Robot Chicken DC Special. (Consider yourself warned. The Robot Chicken special is not the sort of thing you want to play for younger kids.)

If you prefer Robin to Batman, we have Teen Titans, Young Justice and Teen Titans Go.

We've got the greatest hits of Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and, ummmm, Martian Manhunter. Sure, why not? Martian Manhunter!

If you'd rather make yours Marvel, we have that been abundance, as well.

We have DVDs that you can borrow of almost every iteration of the X-Men ever committed to video: movies and animated series spanning three decades. No, Pryde of the X-Men though. Sorry.

And that's still dwarfed by our Spider-Man collection. Whether you prefer Andrew Garfield, Tobey Maguire, Neil Patrick Harris, Drake Bell, Christopher Daniel Barnes or Josh Keaton as your webslinger, we have something for you.

And we've still got more Avengers movies and TV shows than you can shake an adamantium claw at: Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Planet Hulk (yes, that's a thing,) Iron Man again, the whole team and more Iron Man. We also have the Avengers teaming up with Phineas and Ferb. (A match-up for the ages: Batman & Scooby-Doo v. the Avengers & Perry the Platypus.)

There are plenty of awesome superheroes beyond the Marvel and DC stables: Hellboy, the Rocketeer, Sailor Moon, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and more are all worth your time. (It makes me sad that Static Shock isn't on DVD.)

Furthermore, there are all sorts of great stories that came from comics that have nothing to do with tights and flights. Ghost World, Road to Perdition and Archie all got their start as sequential art.

If you want to know more, visit your local library or comic shop. (After all, Free Comic Book Day is coming up...)

Come back each week for a new Throwback Thursday profile.